The mean average temperature last month in San Diego was 64.1 degrees, making it the warmest March in the city since record keeping started in 1875, says the National Weather Service.

The temperature broke the existing record by 0.2 degrees. That record -- 63.9 degrees -- was set in 1978.

"We had a couple of offshore winds events that brought warming all the way to the coast," said Mark Moede, a weather service forecaster. "That explains much of it."

San Diego's Lindbergh Field broke the record primarily because temperatures were unusually warm during the day. The average high in March is 65 degrees. Moede said that there was 20 days when the temperature was 66-69 degrees, six days when it was 70-79 degrees, and three days when it was 80-87. That leaves only two days in which the airport recorded temperatures at or below 65.

The weather is currently cooler than normal. But a high pressure system will move in over the weekend, raising the temperature to 72 at Lindbergh on Sunday, and to 87 on Tuesday, the weather service says.